Today we’re speaking with Dr. Peter Stoett. Peter is Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University. His main research interests include international relations and law, global environmental politics, and human rights, and all of the nuanced intersections between these themes. Prior to joining Ontario Tech University, Peter was Director of the Loyola Sustainability Research Centre, and Chair of the Department of Political Science, at Concordia University in Montreal, Québec. Our primary reason for connecting with Peter was to discuss his recent role as co-chair of the Global assessment of invasive alien species, which was conducted by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

With Peter, we explored several aspects of the new IPBES global assessment. We spoke about how community-engaged environmental action is really the best approach for navigating the ethical debates surrounding invasive species management, including the importance of engaging with Indigenous communities and Indigenous knowledge. We also talked about the necessity of national leadership in developing governance solutions for invasive species, including coordination across  levels of government and efforts to gather widespread public buy-in on the problem. Peter is a strong proponent of science communication and encourages scientists to access the media to get their work into public discourse, where it can have the greatest probability of affecting policy change. It was a pleasure to speak to Peter about his leadership of this truly global-scale science-policy synthesis.